A restaurant might have a cooking contest for newly graduated local chefs. During the event, the restaurant would charge ten dollars per person to sample all the showcased dishes. Attendees must vote on which dish is the best. The dish that wins gets on the menu (which should tell the story about how the dish came to be). To make the stakes higher, the restaurant might even hire the winning chef.

Tip: This idea also works when you need an event catered and don’t have a large budget.